They’ve Got Talent Local cloggers invited to audition for hit NBC show

Thursday

Jan 31, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By Ellen W. ToddSanford News Writer

SANFORD — This weekend, seven young dancers from a Sanford dance studio will vie for an opportunity to appear on the hit television show, “America’s Got Talent.”

The seven members of Northern Explosion Dance Studio’s All-Star Team will leave Maine after school Thursday and travel to New York City with their dance instructors to audition for the show on Friday. The popular program airs on NBC and features such celebrities as Howard Stern, Howie Mandel and Sharon Osbourne as judges.

The dancers learned about the opportunity a week ago when instructor and dance studio owner Heather Torno-Roux received an email request for cloggers — specifically northern-style cloggers — to audition for “America’s Got Talent.”

“It’s an opportunity of a lifetime,” said Torno-Roux. “We’re on cloud nine.”

Northern Explosion’s All-Star Team is made up of seven dancers who made a commitment in September to take their interest in clogging to a more serious level. Members of the team are: Tori Boissonneault, Courtney Camire and Alex Smith, all of whom are students at Sanford High School, and Kaylee Balcewicz, Brianna Clark, Brooke Holmes and Kayla Thompson, who are all students at Noble High School.

Although they have worked together since September, they have only had a week to learn and perfect the dance they will perform for the Feb. 1 audition.

The routine for the audition was choreographed by dance instructors Monique Martineau and Heather Torno-Roux and combines two very different musical styles, a traditional American country song and a hip-hop song. The dancers say the 90-second routine also combines the different dance styles of their two instructors.

Clogging is similar to Irish step dancing and is apparently more popular in the southern part of the country, according to the dancers. During an interview on Tuesday evening, they described the type of clogging they do — northern style — as more modern than the traditional southern style. They say they incorporate more upper body movement and even some hip-hop style moves in their dancing than traditional southern cloggers.

The excitement level was high Tuesday evening as the dancers arrived at Northern Explosion’s new studio on Alfred Road in Sanford for an 8 p.m. class followed by a rehearsal at 9 p.m. They arrived with blankets, pillows and backpacks, prepared to spend the night at the studio and get up at 5 a.m. to travel to Portland for a live performance on the morning television show, “Good Day Maine.”

The dancers started working on their audition routine the day Torno-Roux received the invitation and have had two-hour practice sessions every night since.

The audition is scheduled for Friday, but the dancers don’t know how many times they’ll have to perform their routine.

“There may be sets of auditions for different people ... producers,” said dancer Kaylee Balcewicz.

They plan to stay in New York until Sunday and do some sightseeing and shopping after the pressure of the audition is behind them.

Auditions run through the end of February, they said, so if they make the cut they’ll get a call. If they don’t make it, one dancer said at least they will have tried their best.